Philadelphia Media Stunned after John Tortorella's surprising apology

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Tom Banks
March 26, 2024 (1:51 PM)

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John Tortorella has never been known as someone to apologize, especially not to the media, making his recent actions even more stunning to reporters in Philadelphia.

Despite always being known as someone that's tough to deal with in the media, John Tortorella has stunned reporters in Philadelphia recently, apologizing for the way he handled a recent press conference. The press conference in question came after the Flyers were downed 4-1 by the Florida Panthers, when a reporter asked a question about Felix Sandstrom, to which Tortorella did not reply, and simply ended the media availability.

Now, just a few days later, Tortorella has seemingly turned a new leaf, as he apologized to the media, much to the shock of everyone in attendance in Philadelphia.

Tortorella this morning apologized for his non-response when asked about goalie Felix Sandstrom's play Sunday: "I made a terrible mistake with you guys the other night. You might have asked me about Sanny. My body language was wrong. What I should have said to you was he tried. Sanny tried. Things happened this year that put our goaltending situation into a state of flux. Sanny did not deserve that from me. You had the perfect right to ask that question. He did not deserve that from me. It was wrong."

This is definitely a new look for one of the NHL's most renowned 'old-school' coaches, but as he acknowledged, the reporter had the right to ask the question, and the response was certainly not a good one. The Flyers may now have their answer in net with the reported arrival of Alexei Kolosov, so hopefully that can steady things in net for the Flyers, and with John Tortorella behind the bench, they remain a major threat in the Eastern Conference.